News from Davis Schools

At its October 15 meeting, the Board of Education heard from the Superintendent’s Advisory Homework Committee charged with evaluating whether the district’s homework policy is appropriately meeting student needs.  This group of parents, teachers and administrators is revisiting the recommendations of a 2003 work group that resulted in the existing Davis Joint Unified School District homework policy.  That policy, summarized briefly below, is available in its entirety on the DJUSD website.

Davis Joint Unified School District Board Policy: Homework Adopted June 2003

It is the belief of the district that significant educational gains can be made by students through well-defined homework experiences directed by teachers and supported by parents/guardians.

Homework assignments should be designed to provide a proportionate learning benefit for students, relative to the time required to complete the assignment.  The simple existence of this policy does not require that homework be assigned.

For the regular student in a class, the usual daily (Monday-Thursday) maximum time limits follow:

• Kindergarten, 10 minutes (reading time)
• 1st grade, 10-20 minutes
• 2nd – 3rd grades, 20-40 minutes
• 4th – 6th grades, 40-75 minutes
• 7th – 8th grades, 1.5-2 hours
• 9th grade, 1.5-2.5 hours
• 10th -12th grades, about 30 minutes per class, not including AP/Honors course homework or long-term assignment.

Maximum homework times include reading activities as well as daily and long-term assignments for grades K – 9.

When multiple teachers are involved, the district encourages the school to help coordinate assignments so that the total workload for students is not excessive.

For long-term assignments, periodic progress checks, monitoring, and feedback by the teacher should occur.

The Homework Committee began their work in March 2009 with the goal of recommending a policy that:

• balances research regarding best practices with community norms,
• is well understood and articulated by entire school community, and
• is accepted and supported across grade levels.

Minutes of their meetings are available on the DJUSD website.

What Does Research Tell Us?

As part of their review of current research, the committee is reading and discussing Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs by Cathy Vatterott (ISBN 978-1-4166-0825-7).

Though she notes that “homework has generated enough research so that a study can be found to support almost any position, so long as conflicting studies are ignored,” Dr. Vatterott summarizes the general findings of research on homework thus (pp. 58-63):

• The amount of time spent doing homework is positively correlated with achievement.
• Homework appears to be more effective for older students than younger students.
• As more variables such as ability of the student and quality of instruction are controlled, the correlation between homework and achievement diminishes.
• At each grade level, there appears to be an optimum amount of homework.

What is Optimum?

Does the amount of homework assigned in Davis schools exceed the optimum amount?  Both the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association endorse the “10 Minute Rule.”  This rule defines ten minutes per grade per day as optimum, i.e. 1st graders receive 10 minutes of homework daily, 2nd graders receive 20 minutes of homework, progressing to 120 minutes – two hours nightly – in 12th grade.  Of course, different students at different times will vary in how long it takes them to do the same assignment.

Too Much?  Not Enough?

The Homework Committee seeks a broad understanding of the school community’s homework experience and will survey all teachers and parents, and students in grades 4-12 during the week of November 2-6.  Teachers and students will complete the survey during the school day.  Parents will be notified through school communication channels of their option to complete the survey online or in paper format.  Participants are encouraged to share both positive and negative experiences with homework.

The committee anticipates making final recommendations to Superintendent James Hammond by February 2010.  Dr. Hammond will then report to the Board of Education his recommendation for homework practices that best promote student learning.